Her ninth husband, an emotional Frederic von Anhalt, said that Gabor had passed away at home surrounded by friends and family.

“Everybody was there. She didn’t die alone,” he told AFP by telephone, choking back sobs.

“We tried everything, but her heart just stopped and that was it.

“Even the ambulance tried very hard to get her back, but there was no way.”

Gabor starred in films such as Moulin Rouge, The Girl in the Kremlin and Queen of Outer Space.

Zsa Zsa became a socialite alongside her sister Eva.

She suffered a long period of ill-health after being involved in a car accident in 2002 which resulted in her becoming partially paralysed.

Years of complications followed and she eventually had to have her right leg amputated in 2011.

Actor Zsa Zsa Gabor poses for a portrait on the set of 'Moulin Rouge' in 1952 in England. Picture: GettySource:Getty Images

Gabor was married nine times, most recently to Frederic Prinz von Anhalt who she married in 1986.

She was first married to Burhan Asaf Beige between 1937 and 1941 before divorcing him and going on to marry hotel magnate Conrad Hilton between 1942 and 1947.

Gabor later married George Sanders in 1949 until 1954, Herbert Hutner in 1962 until 1966 and Joshua S. Cosden Jr in 1966 until 1967.

She went on to wed Jack Ryan, who is credited with designing the Barbie doll for Mattel, in 1975 until 1976, then Michael O’Hara between 1976 and 1983 before she married her penultimate husband Felipe de Alba in 1983 before annulling the marriage just one day later.

Born in Budapest, Zsa Zsa (born Sari) was crowned Miss Hungary in 1936 and followed her sister Eva to Hollywood. She got her foot in the showbiz door with MGM’s 1952 Lovely to Look At and got a bigger break that year with Moulin Rouge, directed by John Huston, who is said to have given the ingenue, who spoke heavily accented English and had almost no film experience, a difficult time during the shoot. Gabor’s English improved, but her Eastern European roots became part of her trademark.

Her theatre credits include Forty Carats on Broadway and a touring production of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit.

Hollywood didn’t take her too seriously as an actor, maybe because she didn’t take herself too seriously. She seemed to have decided that there were few roles as interesting as her own persona. With her emphasis on showcasing her own glamour and sparking outrage, it’s no surprise that her showbiz work consisted mostly of playing herself in dozens of films and TV series.

Zsa Zsa Gabor at Beverly Hills Municipal Court on July 12, 1989 where she appeared in order to answer charges of battery against a police officer. Picture: AFP / Hal GarbSource:AFP

Her rise to fame coincided with the spurt of talk shows that filled the airwaves during the early days of TV. The early ‘50s created other talk show and game show celebrities, but few parlayed that fame much beyond the 1950s. Gabor’s attitude -” I deserve attention not because of any talent, but just because of who I am” — was an early example of a phenomenon that has ballooned in the past decade, as tabloids put reality-TV figures on their covers and blogs cover them incessantly.

While Eva Gabor eventually landed a role with which the public could identify her — as Lisa Douglas on the 1960s sitcom Green Acres — Zsa Zsa was simply “famous for being famous,” as someone quipped decades ago.

Zsa Zsa Gabor (centre) with her sisters Eva (left) and Magda in January 1954. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

Talkshow host Larry King paid tribute to Gabor on Twitter. “There will only be one Zsa Zsa Gabor. And, I liked her a lot. Rest In Peace, my dear.”

Many of Gabor’s most well-known ripostes came at her own expense and highlighted her predilection for marrying wealthy men. Some of the most notable were “I want a man who’s kind and understanding. Is that too much to ask of a millionaire?”; “A man in love is incomplete until he has married. Then he’s finished”; “Getting divorced just because you don’t love a man is almost as silly as getting married just because you do”; and, after describing herself as a great housekeeper, she added, “Every time I divorce a man, I keep the house.”

She had a daughter, Francesca, during her 1942-46 marriage to Conrad Hilton, though Hilton reportedly believed Francesca was not his biological daughter, and the millionaire left her just $US100,000 in his will. After spending much of her life contesting Hilton’s will, Francesca Hilton died destitute on Jan. 6, 2015. Gabor, meanwhile, was the great-great aunt of Paris Hilton.

Her 1989 run-in with a Beverly Hills police officer, whom she famously slapped during a traffic stop, was explored in 1991 documentary The People vs. Zsa Zsa Gabor, and mocked, frequently by a willing Gabor herself, in movies from Naked Gun 212 to A Very Brady Sequel and series including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Gabor was also said to have indirectly lost millions to swindler Bernie Madoff.